Third Street Brewhouse Minnesota Gold Review

Name: Third Street Brewhouse Minnesota Gold
Style: American Pale Lager
ABV: 4.9%
IBUs: 15

In addition to their ever-growing list of special releases, Third Street Brewhouse has taken it upon themselves to add yet another addition to their year-round lineup. Interestingly (or perhaps unsurprisingly) enough, they've decided to go with a golden lager for their latest beer, aptly named Minnesota Gold.

Upon initially hearing this news, I started experiencing PTSD-inducing flashbacks of my college years. Why you ask? For those of you who are loyal readers of mine, you may recall I did a review a couple years ago on a beer called Cold Spring IPA. During that review, I mentioned that while I was visiting friends at St. Cloud State University a few years back, a beer called Hackstein was a beer that was widely consumed by the local frat boys and other broke college kids.

Exhibit A

I went on to mention that it was a cheap and absolutely nasty beer that carried a price tag of around $6.59, and to any broke college kid, that seemed like the deal of a lifetime. Well, guess who made that abomination? That's right, before assuming the nom de guerre of Third Street Brewhouse, these guys were known as Cold Spring Brewing. Will Minnesota Gold be a continuation of the misguided experiences of my younger self? Let's find out!

Appearance -  Mildly hazy yellow color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is has a thin soapy-foamy appearance and the lacing is very sparse, to the point of being almost non-existent.

Aroma - Flaked corn and cereal grains make up the bulk of the nose. I'm also getting some light pale maltiness and a touch of light floral hops on the back end of the smell.

Taste - Sweet flaked corn & bit of graininess on the front of the palate, followed by some moderate pale malts and light floral hoppiness. The aftertaste is fairly dry save for some pale maltiness.

If all of the macro-lagers out there (Budweiser, Miller, etc.) tasted exactly like this, I can honestly say that the demand for craft beer would be nowhere near as high as it is today. What we have here is a nice & balanced lager that, while doing nothing too impressive flavor-wise, is a beer that I can see being a bridge that segways from macro to craft. On its own, it's nothing special but I could see myself having this on a regular basis.

Third Street Brewhouse Minnesota Gold - 8.25/10